Ashes 2019: Ben Stokes Reveals The Secret Behind His Stunning Performance

The hero of the third Ashes test, Ben Stokes has revealed his diet of the day before his heroics helped his side win the game. Having scored an unbeaten 135, he shared that he had taken some pasta, fried chicken and two bars of chocolate a day before playing one of the greatest innings of all-time.

Ben Stokes was unbeaten at the end of the Day 3 on two off 50 balls. When a journalist asked him what he had eaten and if he’d slept well to recover as he’d bowled over 20 overs that day, Stokes said his wife and children had come down to Leeds and they got to the team hotel only in the night.

“My wife and kids came down and they got there at around 10 o’clock. My wife walked into me eating pasta in my boxer shorts!” Stokes said.

“Last night, I think had a knock-off Nandos (fried chicken) and two (chocolate) bars of Yorkie biscuit and raisin…And a couple of coffees in the morning,” he further added with laughter.

With this win, England equalled the Ashes series by 1-1 as Australia had registered a comfortable victory in the first one and the second one ended in a tie. Stokes got good support in Jack Leach while chasing and he made sure that he could give the strike to Stokes as they were playing in the last wicket.

“Those will be the most important balls that Jack Leach has ever faced in his career, will ever face in his Test career. The best 1* he’s ever got in his career. For a number 11 to come out under that kind of pressure and to deliver when he needed to deliver was fantastic for him to be able to do that. A lot of credit has to go to him as well for us being able to cross the line at the end,” Stokes said about Leach.

Jack Leach scored 1 off 17 in the last-wicket partnership of 76 off 62 with Ben Stokes. It was, however, the second-highest 10th wicket partnership in a successful fourth-innings run chase. Earlier this year, Kusal Perera and Vishwa Fernando scored an unbeaten 78 in Sri Lanka’s successful run chase against South Africa.